By The Christian Post

Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins star in "Tolkien," Dome Karukoski’s new biopic about the “Lord of the Rings” writer’s formative years. | Fox Searchlight

Warning: spoilers ahead

As a child growing up in Finland, filmmaker Dome Karukoski felt an unusually strong kinship with fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien.

“I was first exposed to The Hobbit and Lord of Rings when I was 12 or 13, and those books were life-changing for me,” Karukoski told The Christian Post. “I was an outsider who was bullied. I craved friends. When I read those books, it was like the characters became friends of mine.”